Mr Osborne hailed today's Autumn Statement as a "big spending review by a Government with big plans".

The Chancellor unveiled a string of unexpected spending pledges, while insisting the Tories are committed to eradicating the deficit.

His Labour counterpart John McDonnell accused of him of "betraying" voters by FAILING to get rid of the deficit by 2015, as he originally promised.

He also read a quote from ex-Chinese Communist Chairman Mao Zedong's Little Red Book, which provoked derision from the Tory benches in the House of Commons.

Here are six ways we should be better off under Mr Osborne's plans.

“The police protect us and we are going to protect the police”

Chancellor George Osborne

Tax credits

In a dramatic U-turn, Mr Osborne ditched his widely hated plans to axe £4.4bn from the tax credits bill, which would have hit low-income working families hard, with Labour claiming they would be up to £1,800 a year worse off.

The Chancellor said he had "listened to concerns" and, because of a boost to public finances, opted to scrap the unpopular plan, rather than phase in cuts.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said Mr Osborne's handling of the issue had been a "fiasco", and claimed the U-turn as a major scalp for his party, which has opposed the proposal from the outset.

Mr Osborne's change of heart will leave millions of Britons better off in April, when the original cuts were due to come in.

REUTERS

RED BOOK: John McDonnell read a quote from President Mao

Police, defence and counter-terror

ISIS' attacks in Paris laid bare the prospect of an atrocity being committed in the UK, particularly in London, and Mr Osborne surprised us all by saiying there would be no cuts to policing.

We will all be safer on the streets, as the police budget will rise by £900m by 2020, and the defence spend is also set to rise by £6bn to £40bn a year by 2020.

Mr Osborne said: "The police protect us and we are going to protect the police."

Prime Minister David Cameron wants to obliterate ISIS, and is hoping to win support for air strikes in Syria, and any future British action in the Middle East will require strong defence coffers.

He already has vowed to form two strike brigades of 5,000 troops.

The boost for policing comes after sustained cuts to forces under the coalition government.

REUTERS

FLANKED: Osborne was backed up by the PM sitting at his side

Tampon Tax

The £15m raised through the controversial VAT on the female hygiene products, which many argue should be exempt, will be ploughed into women's refuges and domestic abuse charities.

Mr Osborne said he is committed to scrapping the EU law, adding that the government has set the duty at 5 per cent, the lowest legally possible.

Healthcare

The NHS was always going to be protected from cuts, but Mr Osborne announced the health budget will be £19bn a year to £120bn by 2020.

Up front, £6bn extra is to be pumped into the health service, while there will be an extra £600m for mental health services.

The NHS in England is expected to make efficiency savings of £22bn, however, while junior doctors have recently gone on strike over low pay.

The UK's housing crisis is something the government is determined to resolve, and Mr Osborne said 400,000 new affordable homes would be built, with billions handed to private developers.

These homes will cost a maximum of £250,000, and £450,000 in London.

Local authorities will also receive an extra £10m to help the homeless.

Cutting debts

The Government is due to borrow £8bn less than forecast, and Mr Osborne outlined how the national borrowing will drop to the point of the nation running a budget surplus by 2020.

A huge portion of taxpayers' money is spent of servicing the UK's debts, so running a surplus will ensure more of people's hard-earned cash is spent on public services and infrastructure that can help everyone, rather than interest payments.